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INDIANAPOLIS — After six months of work and some-1,700 hours of watching tape, the Indianapolis Colts took a long, hard look at their draft board Thursday night and decided the best move was prudence.

No first-round pick this year.

Instead, they’ll wait until Friday night.

"I’m pretty patient, I don’t panic – we don’t panic," GM Chris Ballard said an hour after trading the team's first-round pick — No. 26 overall — to Washington in exchange for an additional second-rounder this year and next. "We stay true to what we’re looking at on the board, and we make a decision."

Chris Ballard, General Manager of the Colts, after the first round of the NFL Draft, at the Colts Complex, Indianapolis, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (Photo: RobertScheer, Robert Scheer/IndyStar)

The decision means the Colts, for the second consecutive year, will be pivotal players in the draft’s second round. They'll have three picks Friday in Round 2: No. 34, No. 46 and No. 59. They’ll also pick 89th overall in Round 3.

This comes a year after the team made four picks in the second round, a haul that netted Darius Leonard, the 2019 Defensive Rookie of the Year, Braden Smith, their starter at right tackle, and two pieces that could play a key role along the defensive line in the near future: Tyquan Lewis and Kemoko Turay.

The reasoning was simple: The Colts didn't see the first-round value at No. 26, and feel they can do some damage in Round 2.

"Depth? That’s why we made the move," Ballard explained. "We thought the ability of the three (second-round picks), that’s the strength of how we had it lined up."

Ballard revealed earlier in the week he had identified a cluster of eight players the Colts were targeting, and said Thursday a few of those players remain after the first 32 selections were made Thursday night. When the Colts found themselves on the clock Thursday night, and Redskins president Bruce Allen called, offering two second-rounders for the Colts' pick, Ballard took the deal.

"I think there’s still a lot of good players (left), not only at wideout and corner, but at safety," he said. "Still think there’s some d-linemen that are good, still think that there are some (line)backers that are good, I still there are some good players in the second, third, fourth, fifth rounds that we’re going to have a chance to get our hands on."

By moving back, the Colts passed on grabbing the likes of Mississippi State edge Montez Sweat, whom Washington used the No. 26 pick on. MSU safety Johnathan Abram went a spot later.

Ballard has long believed the value of the 2019 draft class was held in the second and third rounds, and had a feeling all week that the Colts would end up trading out of the first round.

"I do not see the same depth that there was last year at the top of the draft," he said. "I think I told a couple of y’all this a few weeks ago where between 11, 12, 15, all the way to 70, I think it’s a matter of flavor, who you like and who you want.”"We got good players last year at the start of the second round," he added. "We think we will do it again."